Just One Question
by Ms. Marla
Summary: Artemis asks a simple question, and recieves the most amazing answer he's ever heard.


_Just One Question_

Artemis Fowl sat at the piano in the parlour of Fowl Manor. He ran his thin fingers over the barely used keys. Artemis had not played this magnificent instrument for many months. He was afraid that he had forgotten how. The nineteen year old Fowl drummed his fingers lightly across the stool on which he sat. He stared blatantly at the black and white keys until his thoughts consumed him; thoughts which revolved around a certain spirited elf. It had been almost a year since Artemis had crawled out of the time tunnel and back to present day. It had been almost a year since he last played the piano, the night which he had returned. Of course in the past eleven months and odd days he had spoken to Holly, but never directly. He had not looked into her eyes for quite some time.

_Not entirely true_, spoke one part of Artemis, _You look her in the eyes every time you look in the mirror._ That was certainly no fiction. Artemis possessed one of Holly's brilliant hazel eyes; a swap made possible by the time tunnel leading home from Hybras. At this particular thought Artemis subconsciously removed the fingers of his left hand from the piano stool and let them graze his eye. He wished to see Holly again. He needed to ask her a question which had been burning on his mind for quite some time; he just never had the right means of bringing it up in conversation.

In an instant, his swirl of thoughts switched from the elf to another female in his life, a human girl; Miss Minerva Paradizo. _Yes, what about her?_ Artemis questioned himself. No doubt, Minerva was stunningly pretty and incredibly intelligent, but Artemis was different now. He had experienced something in the time tunnel with Holly that no one would ever be able to experience ever again. He had shared her mind, her consciousness, her very soul. They had become one and, in Artemis' mind, they would remain one forever. Minerva's sparkly blue eyes and bouncy blonde hair no longer interested him.

"Artemis?" A jolly voice pulled Artemis away from his inner musings. He looked up, away from the piano, and into the face of the younger Butler sibling, Juliet. Artemis nodded and Juliet continued.

"Dinner is ready," she smiled, "Your parents want you to join them." Artemis thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"Thank you Juliet, but please inform Mother and Father that I am not hungry. I actually think I'll go for a little walk out on the grounds."

"Okay, cool," Juliet was still all smiles, dazzling white teeth reflected in the light of the chandelier, "Should I get Butler?"

"No thank you," Artemis shook his head again, "I'll be perfectly fine." 

"Well," Juliet considered it, biting her lip as she did. "Scream if you're in any danger. I'll be out in a minute."

"Juliet," Artemis smirked, "Screaming is so…primal. Hardly something I'd enjoy doing."

"Whatever Artemis," Juliet playfully rolled her eyes, "Just be careful."

"Don't worry," Artemis assured her, "I'm completely safe. And if, by some odd chance, I am in danger, you'll most definitely know. Fair?"

"Fair," Juliet flashed him the peace sign with her fingers and then waltzed off, blonde hair flowing behind her. Artemis smiled and shook his head at the retreating girl; she would never grow up, not completely.

Artemis stood up slowly and stretched out his long arms. He made his way to the entrance hall of Fowl Manor and slipped into a pair of black dress shoes. Then he sauntered out onto the grounds to take a seat beneath his favourite silver birch tree. As Artemis leaned against the strong, proud, tree trunk he began to think of how to ask Holly what he longed to. It most certainly would not be easy. The elf would probably think him crazy. _No matter_, spoke his inner Artemis, _It is a very…interesting question._

The Irish genius inhaled a large gulp of oxygen and played with the ring on his left hand. Of course this was not just a beautiful ring; it was the communicator giver to him by Holly Short herself, and he had not taken it off since he had received it, except when he showered. He paused to think for one last moment and then made his choice. Artemis carefully twisted the ring into its phone form in an attempt to contact his favourite elf.

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Deep beneath the Earth's crust, Holly Short was enjoying a deep sleep after a hard day's work. Her soft breathing was interrupted, however, by a slight beeping noise coming from her pocket. Holly's eyes fluttered open and she blinked away the sleep which threatened to overtake her. Yawning, Holly pulled the communicator out of her pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Holly, good evening," spoke a very familiar voice, "I'm glad I was able to reach you."

"Artemis, is that you?" asked Holly, grogginess clouding her voice.

"Yes, it's me. How are you?"

Holly let out a rather exasperated sigh. "I was sleeping," she snapped, more harshly than she meant to. Artemis seemed to be taken aback as there was a moment of silence that followed her outburst.

"I'm sorry to have interrupted you then," he apologized, "But I actually just wanted to ask you a question. I can call back though, if you'd like."

Holly rolled her eyes, "I'm up now Mud Boy. Just ask, so I can back to sleep."

"Well," Artemis smirked. His plan had worked, "Now that you're awake perhaps you could join me at Fowl Manor. What I have to discuss is rather important and too delicate to talk about over the phone."

Holly's shoulders slumped. He had her. She had placed herself in a position to be asked to travel to Ireland.

"Fine," she muttered darkly, "Give me half an hour, tops."

"Excellent," Artemis replied, "I'll be waiting for you."

Holly grunted something inaudible as she terminated the connection, although Artemis was nearly sure that it was the popular fairy curse word, _D'Arvit. _Artemis smirked. She was still the same old Holly.

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About forty-five minutes later Artemis, who was still leaning against the old birch, caught a slight shimmer out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head towards the patch of shimmer and raised an eyebrow.

"You're late Captain," he droned.

"And you're annoying," Holly retorted, unshielding right before Artemis' eyes.

"That's one of the nicer adjectives that I've heard," Artemis said, nodding. Holly shook her head.

"What do you want anyways?" she asked, "It's not really safe for me to be out here. The sun just set. And this is your place Artemis, who knows what kinds of people are watching us right now."

"Surely just one," Artemis smiled a vampire smile, "The large-protector type." Of course he was referring to Butler. "And as for what I want. Well, we shall begin with the common courtesy of you explaining what kept you."

"Foaly," Holly told him, "You try explaining to him that the infamous Artemis Fowl has something very important to tell you and needs you up at his house, right away."

"I would," Artemis smirked, "But I _am_ the infamous Artemis Fowl."

"I've noticed. Now what do you need to ask me that's so secretive?"

Artemis thought for a moment. He had been all cool, collected banter up until this moment. But now he had reached the point of why he had invited Holly here in the first place. There was no getting around it, he simply had to ask.

"Holly, this may sound like a very odd inquiry, but I must stress the fact that I hope you don't hate me after this."

"Artemis…" Holly was unsure of what to say. She had never seen such behaviour from the boy. He seemed to be nervous, which in turn made Holly feel very uncomfortable.

"Holly," he spoke in almost a whisper, "I just…I want to know…What does it feel like to die?"

There was silence. It was a shocked silence, a disbelieving silence, an almost tense silence; and Artemis immediately assumed that he had made a mistake in asking the elf that delicate question. He risked a glance at Holly, and met her eyes; one hazel, one blue, all beautiful. In her eyes Artemis saw a glint of pain mixed in with the fire and passion that was characteristic of Holly. He half-expected her to stun him with her Neutrino, but Holly was a very unpredictable elf, and so she proceeded to do something very unpredictable.

A single tear rolled down Holly's cheek, straying from her hazel eye, given to her at birth. Inside, Holly willed herself to calm down. Artemis watched the elf with intense eyes. _Perhaps she won't kill me,_ his thought somewhat happily. Holly blinked away the few tears and looked up at Artemis.

"You saved me, what should it matter?" she asked in a soft voice; a much more quiet and hurt tone than Artemis had ever heard her use.

"I don't know," he sighed, "It's been nagging me for the entire year since we returned."

"It hurt," she said, "But that was just leading up to death. The moment itself was very peaceful. There was no more pain, only this sense that everything is over. It's scary, but not terrifying. It's almost like the calm of a storm, you know, all bad before hand, then calm and peaceful, but you have no idea what's going to happen next. It was almost comforting, to just be able to let everything go and simply exist for one moment."

Artemis stared at Holly, dumbfounded that she could present such a wondrous imagery about something so morbid. Within moments he had recovered and realized that Holly was sitting with her head in her hands, looking almost defeated. Artemis placed a pale hand on her shoulder and squeezed tight, amazing to both Holly and him. Characteristically, Artemis was not one to show care and affection. But Artemis was not concerned with what was characteristic; rather he was concerned with the next question he was to spring on Holly.

"Holly," he looked at her deeply, his mouth getting dryer with each moment that passed. The elf looked at him and placed her hand over his. Artemis felt his heart skip a beat.

"Holly," he repeated, "Do I mean a lot to you?" She nodded. Firmly and honestly, she nodded. Artemis's lips cracked into a genuine, soft smile.

"Good. Because…well simply because…"

The genius found he was unable to string together a series of words to form an intelligent sentence so he resorted to something else. Artemis Fowl leaned towards the girl sitting beside him and placed a kiss of her forehead. It was awkward as that was the first time he had kissed a female that was not his mother; and it was pure. Holly looked up at him and smiled. And right at that moment, Artemis and Holly proverbially died in each other's arms. They were consumed by complete bliss and existed only for that one moment, when their eyes met and the world around them disappeared.

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**A/N: Okay, I hope you like it. Reviews are much appreciated. I also must mention that I tried to keep Artemis and Holly in character; although I'm not sure I succeeded towards the end. Please forgive me. Cheers!**

**-Liv**


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